Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-12-27
Countess NarODa.
RK WILK1R COLLINS.

She raised her voice at the last words. 1t
produced 10 effect. Leaning further over
the bed she boldly took tho countess by the
shoulder and shook her. Not even this effort
succeeded In rousinJ the sleeping woman.
Sho still lay back in the chair, possessed by q
torpor like the torpor OF death-insensible to
sound, insensihle to touch. Was she really
sleepingi Or had she faintedi
Agnes looked closer at hor. She had not
fninted. Her breathing was audible, rising
nnd falling, in deep, heavy gasps. AT inter
walls she ground her teeth savagely. Beads Of
perspiration stood thichly on her forehead.
Her clinched hands rose and fell slowly from
timc to time on her lap. Was she in the
agony OF n dreami or was she spiritually CON
scious OF something hidden in the roomi
Tho doubt involved in that last question
was uncomfortable Agnes determined to rouse
the servants who kept watch in the hotel at
night
The bell handle was fixed to the wall on the
side Of the bed by which the table stood.
She raised herself from the crouching posi-
ton she had assumed in looking close at the
countess, and, turning toward tho other side
OF the bed, stretched out her hand to the bell.
At tho same instant she stopped and looked
She shuddered, and sunk back on the pillow
What had she scent
She had seen another Intruder in her room.
Midway between her and the ceiling there
lowered human head-severod at the neck,
like head struck from the body by tho guillo
tine.
Nothing visible, nothing audible, had given
her warning OF its appearance. Silently and
81, hn1 fal. fto -,
her. No supernatural change had passed
over the room, or was perceptible in it now
The dumbly tortured figure in the chair; tho
broad window opposite the foot Of the bed,
with the blsck night beyond it; the candle
burning on the tabe-theso, and all other OBJ
jects In the room, remained unaltered. Ono
object moro, unuttsrably horrd. had been
added to the rest That was the only change
no more, no less
By tho yellow candle light she saw the head
distinctly lowering in mid air above her. She
looked at It stendiastlY, Spsllbound by tho
terror that hold her.
The flesh Of ths face WAS gone. Tho shriv-
eled skin was dIrkoned in hue, like the skin
Of an Egyptian nummy-e1cept at the neck.
There it was CT = lighter color; there IL
showed spots AID splashes Of tho hue OF that
brown spot or tho ceiling, which the childh
fancfHul terror had distorted lato the like
ness of Il spot of blood. Thin rem ins Of a
dscolored mustache and whiskers, hanging
over the upper lip, and over tho hollow
where the cheeks had onco been, made the
head just recognizable MS the head OF n man
Over all the features death and time had donc
their obliterating work The eyeids weIt
closed. The hair on the skull, discolored like
the hair OH the face, had been burned away
in places. The blush lips. parted in fixed
grim showed the double row OF teeth. By
slow degrees the lowering head perfectly
still when she first saw ip began to descend
toward Agnes as sho lay beneath. By slow
degrees that strange, doubly blended odor
which the commissioners had discovered in
the vaults of the old palace-whch had sick
ened Francis Westwick in the bed chamber Of
the new hotel-spread its fetid calculations
over the room. Downward and downward
the hileous apparition made its slow prog
rcss, until 1t stopped close over Agnes
stopped and turned slowly so that the face Of
1t confronted the upturned face of the woman
IN the chair
After that there came a pause. Then a
momentary animation disturbed the rigid re-
pose of the dead face The closed eyelids
opened slowly. The eyes revealed them
selves, bright with the CLASSY film OF death,
and fixed their dreadful look on the woman
In the chair.
Agnes saw that look; saw the reclining
woman rise, as il in obedience TO some dread
command-and Jaw no more.
Her next conscious impression was Of the
sunlight pouring in at the window; of the
friendly presence Of Lady MontbaTy at the
bedside, and Of the children's wondering faces
peeping in at tho door.